March 7, 2019 - After defeating Seton Hall in exciting fashion last weekend, thereby securing a third place BIG EAST Conference position, much was on the line for Georgetown in Chicago last night. Taking down DePaul stood as a chance to solidify their league standing and avoid an early round conference tourney matchup, giving head coach Pat Ewing's team more of a chance to proceed deep into it.
Winning next weekend's confab will secure NCAA Tournament participaction. Minimally, at least progressing deeply would further enhance the Hoyas' slim chances of competing in this year's Big Dance.
With this as backdrop, last night's contest - also a possibility for Ewing to rack up three consecutive league wins for the first time since taking G'Town's helm as coach last spring - had huge ramifications. Surely the Hoyas would down DePaul, the BIG EAST's last placed team, particularly when to a man, they claimed after defeating Seton hall doing so was a priority.
Well, it didn't happen. As the saying goes "the only thing you are sure of is that you aren't sure of anything any more", sage advice for the Hoya Nation presently, given DePaul's 101-69 pulverizing of Georgetown.
Yes, pulverizing. The Hoyas never led or tied, trailed by as much as 27 in first half play, 38 during the second stanza. They shot 35% overall & 25% on three pointers, over nine and nearly 12 percentage points than the then-season average, respectively.
Only two Hoyas scored in double figures; freshman guard's Mac McClung and James Akinjo dropped 13 points each, with the latter also logging a team best seven assists.
The rundown goes on.
DePaul, which shot 49.2% from the floor, 50% beyond the arc - they were 46.4% and 37.1% on the year - also besting G'Town in turnovers (8-15), points off turnovers (27-10), points in paint (34-24), fastbreak points (17-5), steals (11-4) and 24-11 in assists.
Speaking of helpers, sophomore guard Devin Gage paced the game with 10 assists. Four Blue Demons made double figure scoring, starting with senior wing Max Strus's 30 points, followed by class/position-mate Eli Cain (24 points), plus sophomore forward Paul Reed's 19 points and Femi Olujobi's 13.
Add rebounding to a Blue Demon win, with Dave Leitao's bunch pulling down 39 rebounds to the Hoyas' 38. Reed had a game high ten caroms, trailed slightly by Strus' nine. Freshman forward Josh LeBlanc led the Blue and Grey with eight boards.
So where do the Hoyas now stand, league-wide.
With an 18-12 overall record and 8-9 BIG EAST standing, the Hoyas 'share' third place with four other teams. Peeling the onion further illustrates a bleaker picture, given a seventh position and Wednesday play-in date if the BIG EAST tourney started today.
Hope still springs: A big time tilt and chance to trend upwards before the BIG EAST confab exists for Ewing et al this Saturday, when they travel to the conference's second ranked team, one slotted 15th or 16th nationally, Marquette. Tip-off occurs at 230p.
After last night's win, DePaul (15-13, 7-10) has vaunted to number eight in the BIG EAST. Up next for the Blue Demons is Creighton. That road battle begins 7p, EST, also on Saturday.
